Columns

2011.01.05 Is there an alien in your future?

Every now and then I’ll run across something that makes me wonder how I could be so out of the loop that I never heard about it.

Is it because I don’t get around to watching TV? Am I spending too much time at work? Should I be doing something with my free time other than watching movies?

What I’m talking about are the UFO reports from China. I never knew that UFOs were shutting down airports in China, not until I came across the Prophecy News Watch website.

I asked Mr. Google to show me some predictions for 2011 and was directed to Prophecy News, a service whose purpose is this: “We give you filtered news as it relates to Bible prophecy.”

Scrolling through their headings, this one caught my eye: The Rapture, Aliens and the Great Lie. That’s when I learned about what’s been going on in China. We aren’t just talking about swamp gas like we had in our part of the country back in the 1960s.

Once again I sought the advice of Mr. Google and discovered there are 5.5 million references to the Great UFOs Over China incident, of which I knew nothing.

As of early October, there had been eight sightings since June. Not surprising since one report is generally followed by several others.

According to a Wikipedia article, China hasn’t had much in the way of UFO sightings over the years, so they’re certainly due some excitement. This has been referred to as China’s latest export boom.

You can find most anything on the web. For example, an entire village has disappeared in China since the UFO visits. Top officials in India and China are well aware of an alien base located deep in the earth on the Himalayan border. China has plans to create a UFO embassy.

Prophecy News has this all figured out. The Rapture will result in the sudden disappearance of hundreds of millions of people. World-wide panic will follow as people puzzle over the event. The Anti-Christ will appear and tell the Great Lie, which just might suggest that these disappearing people were abducted by aliens. As Ronald Reagan said in 1987, an alien attack would unite the entire world.

The Prophecy writer makes some references to movies and writes about a new one called Skyline in which people will be snatched by aliens. He thinks it will “sow the seeds of suggestion in the minds of millions of people around the world.” Hence, the Rapture is coming soon, as it has been for years.

There’s an interesting side-track to this story. It’s about the Pope’s astronomer and his statement that he would gladly baptize an alien—if requested to do so—no matter how many tentacles it has.

I was surprised that I didn’t know about the UFOs in China, but with Photoshop and military planes, etc., I’m not surprised about the existence of the reports. But I really am surprised to learn that the Pope has an astronomer, Guy Consolmagno, and I’m even more surprised to learn that he’s referred to as “one of the Pope’s astronomers.”

This one would be delighted if alien life were to be found. This one says that intelligent design is bad theology, a pseudoscientific version of creationism. The culture wars do no good for science or religion, he says. Science and religion coexist just fine in his world.

Why would the Pope have astronomers? I found an interview with Brother Guy and learned that the Vatican has employed an astronomer since the calendar reform of 1582. Currently there are a dozen astronomers at the Vatican. They’ve been instructed to do good science. They each have their own program to study, such as string theory, meteor dust, cosmology, planetary science.

Brother Guy is also the curator of the Pope’s meteorite collection.

When 2011 comes to a close, the previous sentence just might remain as one of my favorites from By The Way for the entire year.

It seems there might be an alien in your future and I hope you don’t find that too troubling. When I think about aliens, I’m transported back to a frightening evening at the Rex Theatre when I was about 10 years old. “I Married a Monster from Outer Space.” Take care; they’re all around us.